Danish newspaper cartoons, the Charlie Hebdo caricatures, a Dutch parliamentarian’s proposed drawing competition. What’s the true Islamic response?

‘Shariah’ is a concept that receives frequent superficial mention in the media, but rarely is it explained. Originally published in the Washington Post, the following article is written by two scholars of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Amjad Mahmood Khan, a graduate of Harvard Law School and an Adjunct Professor at UCLA Law School, and Nasim Rehmatullah, a physician and former Vice Chairman of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. 

What does Islam say about freedom of speech? Does Islam teach that blasphemy should be punished? This article explores these vital questions. Ayesha Mahmood Malik is a scholar of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. She is a lawyer, holding an LLB (Hons) from the University of London and an LLM from Harvard Law School. She is also the Sub-Editor at the The Review of Religions, where this article was originally published in 2015.